FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY IN LEAVES: A POTENTIAL PROXY FOR PALEOELEVATION ?

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is the non-directional (random) variation in symmetry resulting from subtle disturbances during leaf development due to environmental or genetic stress. Recent literature has shown that the variation in leaf asymmetry in birch trees in Scandinavia increases with elevation, possibly due to the multiple stress factors that may increase with elevation. We use a newly developed quantification method to measure the relation between FA in various leaf traits and elevation for five woody shrubs from elevation transects in different precipitation regimes in Washington State. Using this expanded data set from different taxa and different climatic regions, we evaluate the potential for fluctuating asymmetry as an easy to measure new proxy in leaf fossils to reconstruct paleoelevation.